Leave it to Gucci's Alessandro Michele to blow our minds. For his Fall/Winter 2018 coed show in Milan, the bearded creative director known for his maximalist, more-is-more aesthetic went full cyborg, sending a whopping 90 models down his catwalk cradling everything from eerily realistic heads to snakes—and, yes, even a baby dragon. The space’s sterile, clinical feel felt Frankenstein-esque, and the show proved that fashion can not only be downright weird (and maybe a little disturbing at times), but fun, too.

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When Kim Jones Took An Epic Victory Lap At Louis Vuitton

In January, Kim Jones announced that he’d be exiting Louis Vuitton, where he helmed the menswear division for seven years (a lifetime in fashion). Though the fashion world mourned his exit—after all, it was Jones who arguably catapulted the LVMH-owned house into relevancy and coolness again, what with his dozens of collaborations and genius ability to merge streetwear and luxury—Jones took his final victory lap for his Fall/Winter 2018 show in one of the most memorable ways possible: arm-in-arm with Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss, both of whom were clad in leather LV-monogrammed trench coats. Talk about going out with a bang.

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When Shalom Harlow Returned To The Versace Catwalk

Rivaling that epic, will-surely-go-down-in-history moment at Donatella Versace’s Spring/Summer 2018 show last year, in which ‘90s mainstays Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Carla Bruni, Helena Christensen, and Claudia Schiffer took to the runway in an emotional and stunning tribute to the Italian house’s late founder, Versace’s Spring/Summer 2019 show put Shalom Harlow back on the catwalk. The 44-year-old Canadian super, who hasn’t walked a runway in six years, closed down the show—and subsequently fuelled our collective, ongoing yearning for early-‘90s nostalgia.

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When Commes Des Garcons Paid Homage To Motherhood

Comme des Garçons’ Rei Kawakubo’s penchant for jolting us out of our sameness and forcing us to rethink our ideas of beauty was on full display at her Spring/Summer 2019 show, held at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. The elusive Japanese designer added extra padding to her wares around white-wig-wearing models’ midsections—some even appeared to burst at the seams—in what appeared to be an allusion to pregnancy and womanhood. One could draw comparisons to her memorable “lumps and bumps” collection for Spring/Summer 1997, in which Kawakubo again distorted the body while poignantly celebrating womanhood.

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When Slick Woods When Into Labour At Rihanna's Show

For her first Savage x Fenty spectacle—the lingerie line she launched this summer—Rihanna put two pregnant models on her Fall/Winter 2018 catwalk, one of whom was 22-year-old Fenty muse Slick Woods, who stormed the Bad Gal’s Brooklyn runway nine months pregnant wearing pasties, a body harness, and…not much else. In a sweet twist of timing that could thaw fashion’s icy-cold heart, Woods reportedly went into labor immediately upon exiting the runway.

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When Jeremy Scott Got Theatrical At Moschino

Jeremy Scott’s Spring/Summer 2019 show for Moschino was every bit as fun and kitschy as, well, mostly all of his collections, both for his eponymous label and the Italian luxury house. Abound with patterns, sketches, swaths of fabric, and scribbles, the spectacle was brimming with tons of jaw-dropping moments (Gigi Hadid as a bride, anyone?). One moment, though, in particular stood out: Models wearing dresses with giant rolls of fabric attached tossed the tubes onto the runway to reveal their gowns. The move was theatrical, fun, and on-brand with Scott’s inclination for humour and whimsy.

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When Anok Yai Made History At Prada

Not since 1997 has Miuccia Prada tapped a black model to open her show. (It was Naomi Campbell, and she was the first to do so.) For the Italian designer’s Fall/Winter 2018 show in Milan, she tapped Sudanese model Anok Yai to open it, marking a necessary shift toward diversity for the luxury label, which has garnered criticism for its lack of inclusivity in its runway shows. On Instagram, the model thanked the house for “giving the little girl from Manch[ester] a chance,” and expressed disbelief that she was the first black woman to open for Prada in two decades.

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When Bella and Kendall Had A Walk-Off At Off-White

After witnessing Virgil Abloh’s Spring/Summer 2019 show for Off-White, it’s hard to understand why an increasing number of designers are choosing to rethink the runway—or forgo it all together. In September, streetwear designer and new Louis Vuitton menswear artistic director pulled the ultimate twinning moment by tapping models-of-the-moment Bella Hadid and Kendall Jenner to open his show simultaneously. The duo stormed the catwalk in unison sporting all-white get-ups, making for a seriously memorable (and truly Instagram-worthy) moment during Paris Fashion Week.

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When Models Walked on Water at Saint Laurent

Models walked on water—literally—at Anthony Vaccarello’s Spring/Summer 2019 show in Paris for Saint Laurent. Lined with luminous, gargantuan palm trees (a collaboration with French artist Vincent Lamoroux), Vaccarello’s runway turned into a shallow infinity pool of sorts, forcing models clad in modern YSL classics—think Le Smoking suits and sexed-up ‘80s glamour—to wade through liquid as they clomped down the catwalk. With the Eiffel Tower glistening in the background, Vaccarello’s romp was one of the most stunning of the year.

For his third show for Calvin Klein 205W39NYC, Raf Simons transported viewers into an apocalyptic wonderland, replete with end-of-world references, symbols of Americana, and lots and lots of popcorn, the latter of which resembled snow—and came much to the chagrin of the high-heeled set, presumably. In fact, not only did Simons pepper the floor of the American Stock Exchange with the revered movie snack (50,000 gallons of it, to be precise) but he also sent out theatre-sized bags of popcorn in lieu of typical paper show invites.

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